Playing Doctor
by SPT
Summary: No, not like that. The team gets sick and Cam had to play doctor


**Title: Playing Doctor**

**Rating: K+**

**Disclaimer: I don't own or have any rights to Stargate or the Characters.**

**Summary: This is what happens when I have too much time on my hands, but get your minds out of the gutter, it's not that type of 'playing doctor'. This ended up being a bit of action adventure fluff, I was going to leave the Cam whumping out completely, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, maybe next fic. I'm not sure I'm happy with this one, so I'd welcome suggestions for revisions.**

If anyone had been around to observe him, they would have thought he was sleeping. He certainly looked comfortable with his head resting back against the stone wall, his gun held loosely in his lap. But the man was far from asleep. His relaxed posture belied a body that was ready to spring into deadly action at the slightest sign of trouble; his eyes were slit open just enough to continually scan the vicinity for any movement. He had situated himself in such a way that the temple protected his back, he could see anyone pass through the only entrance to the building, and he had a clear view of the half mile separating him from the gate.

So far this uninhabited planet had proven to be just that.

He turned his face toward the sun a little more; he didn't get to see nearly enough of it anymore. As a child he'd spent nearly every waking minute outside; his early career had been the same. He loved his current job more than anything, but he missed the sun, the sky. He let one hand drift over the grass beneath him; he couldn't get over how similar some places were to home.

He felt bad for the others, their duties keeping them inside the temple on such a gorgeous day. He'd done the initial tour with them and although everything had been fascinating, he hadn't been able to force himself to stay in the stale air a minute longer than was necessary. He knew he would hear about everything, in _great_ detail, when they got back.

He let his mind wander a bit more, careful to keep his body alert, running through the check list for setting up camp. It would be getting dark soon, and he'd prefer to have everything done before that happened. He knew it would be next to impossible to pull the two scientists away from their work, but maybe he could talk the other two into lending him a hand. He was reaching for his radio when it crackled to life.

"Col Mitchell"

Was it just his imagination, or had Teal'c's voice sounded… weak? "Yeah T, what's up?" He waited a minute with no response, "Teal'c?" Still receiving no response, he tried the others, "Hey Daniel, Sam, Vala, anyone seen Teal'c?" Static was his only reply.

Cam tried to calm his suddenly racing heart; it was probably just the temple interfering with the radio signal. Nevertheless, he jumped to his feet and headed into the temple, quickly making his way toward their last known location. He sniffed, thinking that if possible, the air was staler than before. He brushed the thought away to concentrate on not getting lost.

The sight that greeted him upon rounding the last corner nearly stopped his heart in his chest; his four friends were sprawled in various positions around the room.

He dropped to his knees beside Sam, as she was closest to the door, and hesitantly placed two fingers to the side of her neck. Mitchell allowed himself a sigh of relief when he felt a strong, steady pulse beneath his finger tips. Carter's breathing was a little ragged, but other than that, she appeared unharmed. He quickly repeated the process with the other three, his relief and confusion growing each time he found the same results.

It was then that he noticed a slight burn in his own lungs. Cameron reached the obvious conclusion in just under a second; the air wasn't just stale, there was actually something wrong with it.

Dropping his rifle, he grabbed Teal'c and Sam's collars and began dragging them toward them toward the temple entrance. He gently dropped them on the grass and arranged them into the recovery position before racing back in after Daniel and Vala. Cam was sweating profusely by the time he managed to pull them along side Sam and Teal'c. He did another quick vitals check and was relieved to find respiratory and pulse rates were still strong.

His relief was short lived though as the ring platform on the other side of the temple entrance activated. Mitchell made a quick grab for his gun only to realize he'd left it in the temple in his haste to get the others out. He grasped his sidearm just as the Jaffa appeared within the rings.

"That would not be wise."

Cameron whirled at the gravelly voice behind him, and came face to face with the business end of several staff weapons.

"I am Dank'ra, Lord Tan'ra's First Prime."

Realizing the futility of the situation now that he was surrounded, he dropped his pistol. "What'd you do to them?" He nodded his head toward his teammates laying at his feet.

"We did nothing, it appears they have succumbed to the virus of the temple."

Cam dropped his head, a virus, prefect. He'd hoped that it was some sort of sleeping agent, but now it appeared that his team was actually sick, and he had no way to get them help. "A virus?"

"Long ago Lord Tan'ra placed a virus in the temple to protect his wealth. The longer someone stays, the more they are affected." The First Prime stopped, suddenly wondering why he was answering the prisoner's questions. "Bring them."

Cam quickly stepped between Daniel and the nearest Jaffa. "Wait, let me check on them one more time." He ignored the growled negative response and knelt beside Jackson. It didn't take him long to find the spare radio that the archeologist always carried and slip it into his boot. He waited until he was sure that the Jaffa was actually watching before he not-so-stealthily reached for Daniel's primary radio. Even bracing himself for the impact didn't do much good as the staff connected solidly with his shoulder, sending him flying. Cam knew they wouldn't search him as thoroughly now that they thought his attempt had failed. He was surprised when the Jaffa aimed a Zat in his direction, they already had him subdued, what was the point. He didn't get an answer to his question before the blue light enveloped him.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Mitchell woke to the familiar headache of a Zat blast. His thoughts quickly turned to the others and he raised his head in search of them; thankfully they'd all been placed in the same cell. Another vitals check revealed that their condition hadn't changed much except that they were all had a slightly elevated temperature. He quickly stripped each of their jackets and placed them under their heads, hoping that the open air on their arms would help lower their temperatures slightly.

Cam made each of them as comfortable as he possibly could on the stone floor before standing to survey their new accommodations. From the architecture he was guess that they were back in them temple; however, the air in their cell didn't have the same stale taste as it had in the rest of the temple. Cameron sincerely hoped that this part of the temple was somehow not affected by the virus; he really didn't want the others to get any sicker from further exposure.

A quiet groan to his left had him sliding to his knees next to Teal'c. "Teal'c, rise and shine buddy."

Teal'c's eyes blinked open at the excitement and hope in Cameron's voice, "Co- Mitchell."

"You know it, how you feeling?" Cam worried his bottom lip as he waited for Teal'c to summon the energy to answer.

"Unwell," he was having an extremely difficult time catching his breath.

Cameron smiled at the simple statement. "I bet you are, you've got a fever and your breathing's kind of rough. Go back to sleep ok, I'll take care of everything."

"Water?"

"Sorry buddy, don't have any yet, but I'll wake you up when I do." Mitchell shook his head; he knew he had to keep the team hydrated and keep their temperatures down. He couldn't do wither without water. He kept a hand on Teal'c's shoulder until his breathing evened out slightly into the rhythm of sleep.

Cam looked up quickly as the door to their chamber swung open. He positioned himself between the door and the others as Dank'ra and two of his Jaffa entered. He didn't even wait for them to speak before he made his demand, "I need cold water and lots of it." He was only half prepared for the backhand that nearly drove him to his knees. Cameron shook his head once, trying to clear the sudden cobwebs and returned Dank'ra's gaze. "Look, if you want them to be alive when lord Whats-His-Name gets-"

"Lord Tan'ra," the Jaffa thundered.

This time the blow was enough to send Cam crashing to the floor; he wiped the blood from his cheek as he slowly got back to his feet. He smirked at the outraged look on their captor's face, " right, so if you want them alive when _he_ gets here, I suggest you give me the water." He returned the Jaffa's stare until another brought in two large jugs of water.

Deciding he'd pushed his luck far enough, Cameron bowed his head slightly, "thank you."

Unfortunately, his 'you're welcome' turned out to be another fist to the face. Dank'ra leaned down towards Cam who was on his hands and knees trying to blink the black spots away, "don't presume to speak to me again."

"Yeah, ok," it came out slightly less sarcastic than he had intended, but he still landed heavily on his back as a boot caught him in the ribs.

He waited until SG-1 was alone in the room before struggling to all fours and scrambling over to the water jugs. Cam stripped off his shirt and tore it into five somewhat equal pieces. He carefully moved both jugs closer to his patients and went to work on getting them cooled down.

Two hours later he took a break, slightly pleased with the way things were going. He'd gotten them all to drink some water, not that they were aware of the process, and their temperatures had dropped a notch or two. He gently fished the radio out of his boot to check the frequency settings. Satisfied that everything was set properly, he was about to return the radio to its hiding place when he felt a hand on his arm. Looking down, he was surprised to find Sam's blue eyes staring at him.

"Cam, wha- happened?" She wouldn't understand why she felt so horrible, the last thing she remembered was fiddling with the ancient device they'd found.

Mitchell dribbled a bit more water in her mouth before answering. "Long story, how do you feel?"

Carter hated seeing that worried look in his eyes, especially when it was directed at her. She considered telling him that she was fine, but she knew he'd see right through it. "Awful," she finally admitted honestly, "having trouble breathing."

Cam gently brushed the hair off her forehead. "Just try to go back to sleep, you'll feel better in the morning." He knew sleep was the body's best way of healing itself so he continued stroking her forehead until she drifted off.

Once he was satisfied that she was really asleep, he moved off to re-wet the cold compresses he'd placed on their heads. Daniel stirred slightly but didn't wake when Cam gave him some more water.

His original hope was that they'd be coherent and strong enough to participate in his escape plan by morning, but judging from Teal'c and Sam's weakened states, that wasn't going to happen. They would miss their first check-in at 0745, he was crossing his fingers that the General wouldn't wait too long to dial in; that's where the hidden radio would come in handy.

Cameron lifted the jug to take a small drink for himself. He could tell from the weight, or lack there of, that they were nearing the bottom of the first jug; he'd have to be more sparing with the second one. He highly doubted the Dank'ra would grant his request a second time; ok, so the first time had been a flat out demand, but still.

Cam spent the rest of the night playing doctor to his team, wishing the entire time that he actually knew what he was doing. What really worried him though was that they all seemed to be getting slightly worse.

It felt like early morning, they'd taken his watch again, when Vala took a turn for the worse; her breathing became more labored and she began flailing violently.

Mitchell quickly grabbed his last wet cloth and attempted to wrap her in his arms without getting hit too many times. He wasn't sure if she was having a fever-induced nightmare or just a reaction to the virus; either way it was fifteen minutes before she showed signs of calming down. Cam could feel the heat emanating off her body and knew that her fever had spiked dramatically. He continued to wet down her face, neck and arms until her breathing evened out slightly.

What he wouldn't give to have Dr. Lam and her crew here right now.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

General Hank Landry inhaled the smooth aroma of his coffee as he descended the stairs to the control room. "Good morning, Walter." He loved it when days started out this slow and relaxed, it didn't happen nearly enough.

Walter turned towards the smiling General, silently wishing he didn't have bad news to impart. "Good morning, sir."

"Scheduled check-ins?" he asked, tentatively sipping his coffee, testing the temperature.

"SG-5 at 0700, SG-6 at 0715, and SG-16 at 0730, everything is on schedule for all their returns this afternoon."

The smile faltered slightly, "what about SG-1?"

"They were supposed to check in fifteen minutes ago, sir." Walter tried to hide his wince.

The General somehow managed to refrain from growling out loud, leave it to his flagship team to ruin his day. "Dial them, please."

Walter dialed the coordinates and watched as the chevrons locked in place. He sent up a silent prayer that they'd just lost track of time, but he knew that wasn't the case. He could count on one hand the number of times that Col Mitchell had missed a check-in, and each time it was because something bad had happened.

"SG-1, this General Landry, come in." He paused for a second before repeating the message.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Cam scrambled to pull the radio from his boot as he heard the faint voice coming through. "General, Col Mitchell here, we've got a situation here, sir."

He heard the frustration filter through the General's voice, "What is it Col?"

"Sir, the rest of my team contracted some form of virus while working in the temple; they have fevers, difficulty breathing and are basically unresponsive, sir." Cam blew out a shaky breath in preparation for delivering the other bad news.

"Are they contagious?"

"I don't think so, sir, I've been with them all night and I feel fine; but it gets worse General. We were captured by some Jaffa shortly after I got them out of the temple." Mitchell glanced at his teammates, they all looked slightly better in the morning light, or maybe it was just his wishful thinking.

"How many Jaffa, Col?"

"Eight at the time sir, but Lord-" he glanced up at the sound of the door opening, "hell, gotta go, sir." He only had the radio shoved half way into his boot when Dank'ra caught sight of it.

Cam felt all the air leave his lungs as he was smashed into the far wall. The Jaffa released him, letting him fall to the floor cradling his already bruised shoulder and ribs. "So much for 'good morning'," he muttered.

"Who were you contacting?"

Mitchell suddenly found himself back on his feet and eye level with Dank'ra. "My grandma, today's her birthday." Apparently that wasn't the answer Dank'ra was looking for because Cam felt himself slam into the wall once more. He knew that the longer he could keep the Jaffa's attention on himself, the safer the others would be and the less resistance the rescue team would have. "No really, she's 90 today, kind of an impor-" Having a knife at your throat was a pretty good reason to shut up, at least for him.

Cam managed to wiggle out of Dank'ra's grasp just in time to avoid having his throat slashed, unfortunately his shoulder didn't fare so well. He dodged to the other side of the room, careful to avoid his sick teammates. "Now see, usually that mano y mano thing means no weapons; so what do you say you put down the knife and we do this right."

Instead of following his captive's advice, Dank'ra walked over to the guard at the door, snatched his staff weapon, and opened it in Daniel's face. He looked expectantly at Mitchell.

"Ok, I get the point, no more jokes." Cameron held up his hands in surrender; putting himself in danger was one thing, but his team being threatened was not an acceptable risk. "I contacted my General, asked him to send a rescue party. He won't do it though, I wasn't able to give him enough information to make it viable before you came in." He sighed with relief when Dank'ra's stance relaxed the slightest bit.

"As a reward for your honesty, I will not force you to watch your friends die before you." Dank'ra switched his staff weapon to Cam's chest just as weapons fire sounded in the corridor.

The momentary distraction was all Jackson needed. He quickly yanked Dank'ra's nearest leg forward enough to send the Jaffa stumbling backwards. Mitchell took the opportunity to pounce on the First Prime; he grabbed the staff weapon and was able to get one shot off, taking out the guard at the door, before Dank'ra regained his balance.

During their struggle, neither man noticed Daniel crawling toward the knife that had been knocked out of the Jaffa's hand when Cam had jumped on him. Daniel's head was swimming from the lack of oxygen and his lungs felt like they were on fire, but from the looks of things Mitchell wasn't going to be able to hold his own for too much longer, so he continued to struggle towards the knife.

Cam was indeed about to hit his limit, his ribs and shoulder hurt like hell and his head felt like it was about to explode. He brought a knee up into Dank'ra's side and used their dual grip on the staff to flip him to the floor. His triumph was short-lived as Dank'ra swiped his legs from beneath him; Mitchell went down hard, trying to maintain his grip on the staff weapon.

Dank'ra started for the downed man only to have a piercing pain explode in the middle of his back. The Jaffa stopped long enough for Cam to aim and fire, hitting Dank'ra directly in the symbiote.

Mitchell slumped back to the floor, breathing heavily, his eyes immediately searching out Jackson who had also collapsed. "Owe you one Jackson."

Daniel's eyes fluttered briefly, "buy me a beer after I take a nap."

Cam watched with apprehension as his eyes slid closed. He started to crawl towards his friend, but a noise at the door had him swinging the staff weapon around. "Damn it Reynolds, you almost just got yourself shot. Any trouble?"

"Not much." Col Reynolds took in the downed Jaffa, the unconscious team and the bleeding team leader, "why do you always get to have all the fun?"

Cam chuckled softly, "Just lucky, I guess."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

"I've given them some bronchodilators, which seem to be helping, and other than that they just need rest. You did well keeping them cool and hydrated."

Cam winced at the sight of the needle entering the skin of his shoulder yet again; he'd counted twelve stitches so far. "Didn't feel like I was doing well when their fevers kept going up."

Carolyn gave him a small smile, "trust me Col, you 'play doctor' very well."

Cameron wondered where those words had come from; had she been reading his mind?

"Col Carter mentioned that she'd heard you muttering about 'playing doctor' usually being more fun." She couldn't help but laugh at the bright shade of pink that crept into Cam's cheeks.

**And for those of you who are Cam/Carolyn shippers:**

She felt her own cheeks blush slightly as she thought about her next statement. "You know, I'd be willing to show you exactly how much fun 'playing doctor' could be," she purred into his ear.

**If anyone is so inclined, you're welcome to take that statement and run with it, just be sure to send me the link.**


End file.
